— Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who lately seems to be spending much of his time like a high-school chaperone, has decided to demote the former head of U.S. Africa Command, William “Kip” Ward, from a full, four-star general to three stars, for spending thousands of dollars on lavish travel and other unauthorized expenses, the AP reports. He will also repay the government $82,000.

— The Air Force, utilizing the latest in stealth technology, has decided to release its probe into sexual misconduct by its instructors at its San Antonio, Tex., training post on Wednesday afternoon. No word yet on whether the timing was set to ensure minimal coverage of the Lackland Air Force Base scandal as the entire Pentagon press corps is busy running hard after the latest revelations in the Petraeus-Allen saga.

That means the Air Force (Lackland trainers), the Army (Ward, and the retired Petraeus) and the Marines (Allen) all are grappling with personnel public-relations headaches this week.

Once again, the Navy elected not to participate in this joint operation.

In fact, it has been more than a week since the Navy fired a skipper, this time the captain of the frigate USS Vandegrift and three of his officers for drunken behavior while in the Russian Pacific port of Vladivostok.